CAIRO
The Interior Ministry has renewed calls for supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi to end their ongoing sit-ins to "ensure their safety," pledging to provide them with a "safe exit."
"We reiterate our concern for citizens' safety in the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins and renew the pledge to provide them with full protection, defend their rights and guarantee their safe exit to home and work," ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said in a televised statement on Saturday.
He warned that those remaining at the sit-ins were "subjecting themselves to accountability over involvement in acts punishable by law," accusing sit-in organizers of involvement in alleged murder, torture, abduction, blocking roads and incitement to violence and hatred.
Abdel-Latif insisted that demonstrators were being "brainwashed" by protest organizers, who, he claimed, were exploiting protesters for their own political gains.
Pro-Morsi demonstrators have been staging round-the-clock sit-ins in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in eastern Cairo and Giza's Nahda Square next to Cairo University to demand the ousted president's reinstatement.
The Egyptian government has said that it views the twin sit-ins as a "threat" to Egypt's national security.
On Wednesday, the government mandated the Interior Ministry – which controls Egypt's sprawling police apparatus – to take "all necessary measures" to disperse ongoing pro-Morsi demonstrations.
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